“Nevertheless, as we have discussed this morning, the Morgan Stanley of today is meant to perform through the cycle, and based on the evidence we see, our building M&A and IPO pipelines, improving boardroom confidence, and an increasingly positive tone from our retail and institutional clients, we remain constructive on the year ahead.”

In context

“rst is geopolitical, that global conflicts intensify and conflagrate. The second is the state of the U.S. economy over the course of 2024. The base case is benign, namely that of a soft landing. But if the economy weakens dramatically in the quarters to come and the Fed has to move rapidly to avoid a hard landing, that would likely result in lower asset prices and activity levels. On the other hand, if inflation in fact has not been beaten back and continues to challenge consumers and supply chain, that could result in a stickier fed and the resulting higher for longer will have to be absorbed in the way of a higher-than-expected cost of capital and the dangers of a bifurcated economy. These risks, the geopolitical and that of the U.S. economy, present some uncertainties as we start 2024. Nevertheless, as we have discussed this morning, the Morgan Stanley of today is meant to perform through the cycle, and based on the evidence we see, our building M&A and IPO pipelines, improving boardroom confidence, and an increasingly positive tone from our retail and institutional clients, we remain constructive on the year ahead. We will execute on our clear and consistent strategy. We have a global business, a world class wealth and investment manager alongside a leading investment bank. The growth opportunities are extraordinary, especially given how our businesses and regions intersect and support the business strategy. We will continue to lead with asset consolidation across wealth and investor management, and remain committed to growing high quality share in institutional securities to consistently deliver our integrated firm to clients around the world. In so doing, we will continue to execute towards our key objectives and to deliver for shareholders. I will now turn the call over to Sharon, who will discuss our fourth quarter and annual results, and then together we'll take your questions. Thank you. A - S”